Western Idaho Fair

On Monday night after Shane and Alyssa got home from their 1st day of school we took the kids to the fair. Samantha was excited to show all of us her quilt displayed with the 4-H stuff. When we got their her quilt had a big purple ribbon on it along with her blue one. We weren't sure what it was, but it said Best of Projects on it. Her friend Blakely who was at the fair too said it was GRAND CHAMP!! That was a nice surprise. The kids had fun looking at the exhibits, going through the petting zoo, and going on rides!

1st day of school

Today was Shane and Alyssa's first day of school.  Shane is in 5th grade, and Alyssa is in Kindergarten.  Shane has Mrs. Dorian for a teacher. She was also Samantha's 5th grade teacher, and Samantha loved her.  Shane had a good first day, and seams to think that he will also like her.  Alyssa has afternoon kindergarten with Mrs. Longpre.  Alyssa was excited all day long to go to school. She kept on asking me how much longer til we can go.  After lunch we finally got to go. She was so excited to meet her teacher, and she even painted her a picture on canvas of the night sky with lots of yellow stars on it and gave it to her when we got there.  Alyssa was also excited because her friend Heidi Murray from church was in her class. Samantha, Mom, and Makayla walked over and picked them up on there 1st day. They talked all the way home telling us all about their day. I am so glad it went so well!  AND OF COURSE MOM TOOK PICTURES!!!

                                                                            Shane

                                                                            Alyssa

                                                      Alyssa with her new Dora Backpack

Alyssa and Mrs. Longre

Settler's Park

After a fun day at Chuck-E-Cheese, and having lunch at Burger King, we were off to the park to let the kids play and get wet. Settler's Park here in Boise is really fun for the kids. It has water that sprays up out of the ground, and buckets that fill up and drop on there heads.  They all got soaking wet, and then they would dry off, and then they would go back and get wett again.  They also have a fun playground, with slides, swings, monkey bars, and a tire swing (my kids favorite). They also have rocks to climb on and musical instruments for the kids to play and bang on.  We were there for a few hours, and then headed home when it was time for dinner. We stopped at Little Ceasers Pizza on the way home to get dinner. The kids definately had a really fun day!

Chuck-E-Cheese

Well Grandma Hughes was in town this weekend, so that means CHUCK-E-CHEESE!!! The kids were all really excited to go, even Samantha and Shane.  We met Lora and her kids there, and grandma bought the kids tons of tokens to go play with.  They had fun playing the games, getting pictures taken, playing on the toys, and they even got to see Chuck-E-Cheese himself. He came out and  did a fun little song with them( If your happy and you know it), and then he threw a bunch of tickets in the air that the kids could collect and turn in for prizes. After the kids had used up their tokens they all went to pick out there prizes. They got some fun stuff.  Makayla had a fun time on the rides, especially when someone rode with her. She wasn't so sure what to think of Chuck-E-Cheese though.

Shane's braces are off !!!

Today Shane got his braces off. He has been soooo excited to get them off. He even made a chain to count down the days.  Notice the background picture. One of the pictures has braces on and one of the pictures has braces off, but it is opposite of Shane's before and after picture. He thought it was magic!

Before the braces were taken off!

After the braces were taken off!

What a beautiful Smile!!!

Samantha's 4-H project

Samantha participated in 4-H this year for her first time. Her friend Shelby invited her to join their group. Shelby's mom, Renee Peugh, was their 4-H leader.  Throughout the year they worked on cooking, sewing, and taking care of animals-mostly chickens.  Samantha had a lot of fun, and worked hard on her 4-H project.  She decided she wanted to make a frayed baby quilt for her project.  It took just over 10 hours for her to complete. This included going to buy the fabric, cutting out all the squares, sewing them together, fraying the edges, washing and drying it, and picking all the lint off of it.  Today I took her to the fair grounds to enter her quilt in the fair.  She was interviewed and received a blue ribbon for her project. We are very proud of her. She did a wonderful job! So did all of her friends. 

Samantha sewing her quilt

Samantha Happy that she is almost done!

The finished blanket

Samantha at the fair with her blanket

Samantha waitng for her interview

Samantha meeting the lady who is going to interview her.

Maggie Walker with the stuffed animal she sewed.

Shelby Peugh with the skirt she made. She also made a cake, and entered a chicken in the animal catagory

Blakely Conrad with her skirt.  She also made bread, a tye dye pillow, and has a chicken in the fair.

Regan, Shelby's cousin, with her skirt and blue ribbon.

Samantha with her blue ribbon.

Why Blog???

So, why am I blogging now after 2 years of taking a break? I am now going to use my blog for my scrapbooking. My sister is going to print her blog off into a book, and I decided I am going to try it for the 2011 year. I just finished printing off my scrapbook pages for 2010, and decided a blog would probably be a lot quicker, and less expensive. So, we will see how it goes!

Go Boise State!!

Makayla is now 18 months old! WOW time sure flies by! She sure is a cutie, and check out all her curls! I still can't believe how curly it is. I am so use to kids with straight hair, so it has been a lot of fun playing with it.  She is now starting to walk along our coffee table. We are sooo excited for her, and can't wait til she starts walking by herself. A few days ago I was in Walmart and saw this adorable Boise State cheerleader outfit, and I had to buy it. She looks so cute in it, I had to take a bunch of pictures.

Lemonade Stand

Ice Cold Lemonade... Who wants some Ice Cold Lemonade...

O.K. so I finally gave in to my kids asking several times every year if they can sale something in the front yard. It has ranged from, homemade books written and illustrated by my kids, painted rocks, cut out hearts, old toys they don't want anymore, to lemonade and cookies. I finally gave in to the lemonade, fruity pebble krispies, and cookies. We found this little stand at the D.I. and the kids just had to have it.  We set up the stand in the afternoon around 2:00 and the kids stayed outside all day until 8:30 PM (except we made them come in and eat dinner). Alyssa and Shane were very creative on ways to get costumers. Alyssa rode her bike up and down the side of the road yelling (although she doesn't need to yell her voice is loud enough as it is) Lemonade for Sale, and Shane made a huge poster and held it up while he danced around with it like the Little Ceaser Pizza guys on the side of the road.  Thanks to wonderful friends and neighbors and some big tippers, the two of them came up with just over $22.00. They spilt it in half, and have counted their money over and over. I can't wait to see what they get with all their hard earned money.  We did warn them that they can't do this all the time. Maybe once or twice a summer.